Matthew 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It is always astounding to people of small imagination that their ancestors could hate, persecute and kill saints. We imagine that we are 2000 years smarter than the people who put Jesus to death. We think ourselves wiser than the people who despised Lincoln, or St. Thomas Aquinas, or Joan of Arc. But the reality is that saints often come to us in very repulsive forms, challenging our deepest and most cherished bigotries. They are antidotes to the popular poisons of the age. And because they are antidotes they are often mistaken for poison and hated for it. Jesus endured just such hatred. He and His followers were assured by all the leading authorities that His lot was with the wicked and that anyone who followed Him would share His fate among the "accursed" who hung from the tree of the Cross. But God had an altogether different opinion. He called Jesus His Beloved Son and gave Him kingship, not only over heaven, but over the whole universe as well. We shall share in that kingship, if we remain with Him. And the paradoxical sign of our share in that kingship will be our share in His sufferings and the hatred of the enemies we are called to love and forgive. Even such hate cannot touch our union with Him.
